Tunneling characteristics of a chain Majorana bound

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tunneling characteristics of a chain Majorana bound

AU - Flensberg, Karsten

PY - 2010/11/22

Y1 - 2010/11/22

N2 - We consider theoretically tunneling characteristic of a junction between a normal metal and a chain of coupled Majorana bound states generated at crossings between topological and nontopological superconducting sections, as a result of, for example, disorder in nanowires. While an isolated Majorana state supports a resonant Andreev process, yielding a zero-bias differential conductance peak of height 2 e2 /h, the situation with more coupled Majorana states is distinctively different with both zeros and 2 e2 /h peaks in the differential conductance. We derive a general expression for the current between a normal metal and a network of coupled Majorana bound states and describe the differential conductance spectra for a generic set of situations, including regular, disordered, and infinite chains of bound states.

AB - We consider theoretically tunneling characteristic of a junction between a normal metal and a chain of coupled Majorana bound states generated at crossings between topological and nontopological superconducting sections, as a result of, for example, disorder in nanowires. While an isolated Majorana state supports a resonant Andreev process, yielding a zero-bias differential conductance peak of height 2 e2 /h, the situation with more coupled Majorana states is distinctively different with both zeros and 2 e2 /h peaks in the differential conductance. We derive a general expression for the current between a normal metal and a network of coupled Majorana bound states and describe the differential conductance spectra for a generic set of situations, including regular, disordered, and infinite chains of bound states.

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.82.180516

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.82.180516

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2469-9950

VL - 82

SP - 180516 (R)

JO - Physical Review B

JF - Physical Review B

IS - 18

ER -